Saturday, June 28, 2014

Trail Maintenance N. Chickamaga Segment

Lora went back out to the North Chickamaga segment of the Cumberland trail to help with more trail building.  They are still planning on opening it back up on schedule, but did not accomplish all they had hoped to do.

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Friday, June 27, 2014

Washington Creek - Tennessee River


Lora and I headed out Hwy 30 to the Tennessee River.  We put in at the boat ramp on the South side of the TN river at the Hwy 30 bridge.  This is where the old Washington Ferry used to cross.  We checked out the North side, but it looks more like private property.

When we put in, we found the redneck catfish business running full speed.  They had two boats with tanks and a pickup with tanks.  We got in their way as they were trying to load their boats on the trailers to pull up and transfer fish to the pickup and then redeploy their boats.  They don't know how to speak as everything came out yelling.  We did a rapid deployment of the canoe.

Anyways, we headed to the North side of the river and West to get into the Washington Creek Slough. Once on the creek we had everything to ourselves.  We paddled a counterclockwise loop around the sloughs.  There are a couple of good size lakes up in there.  We went up each creek as far as we could go. Washington creek was good and deep and the water was an aqua blue.  We saw lots of deer, fish, turtles, and birds.

About time we got finished the thunder clouds moved in and we headed back.  We did not get a chance to finish the last inlet.  There was a very nice family group swimming at the boat ramp when we got back.  After we got loaded up, we took a nice swim with them.

On the way back we stopped at the Yuchee Wildlife Refuge off of Bogles Chapel road.  Here we checked out the boat ramp, viewing platform, picked some blackberries, and saw a young fawn.

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Thursday, June 26, 2014

Rock Creek Paddle


Lora and I had a couple of hours so we headed down to Patterson Road in Sale Creek to put in.  We took the canoe up rock creek to where you can't go any further.  Then we got out and walked a little ways to see if it widened up again.  We did a find a good swimming hole that I could not resist.  We walked back to the canoe and then headed home after lunch on board.

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Saturday, June 21, 2014

Melissa's Wedding


We got the privilege of attending my daughter's wedding Saturday.  We traveled to Knoxville, TN where the ceremony took place.  After the ceremony we headed off to Olive Garden to have a good meal, fellowship, and have wedding cake.

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Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Judd Slough - Hiwassee River


Lora and I headed back out to the Hiwassee River.  We went back and put in at the boat ramp on Hwy 58. We paddled across the lake to the Agency Creek Recreation Area and went in Judd slough.  There a lots of houses in here, but some pretty natural areas as well.  We took the creeks up as far as we could go.  The one on the right goes back past some houses and then opens back up to a small lake with houses.

When we came back out of the slough we headed East on the Hiwassee river and went in the next small slough.  Then we crossed the Hiwassee and headed back along the islands.  We got in 6.8 miles.  It was super hot so we had lots and lots of swim breaks.

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Saturday, June 14, 2014

TTA Long Hunter Day Loop


Craig McBride, Sara Pollard, Roy Duncan, Rebekah Norman, Jennifer Zahn, and Hilda Vaughn did the 4 mile Long Hunter Day Loop.  They have put up a new Kiosk and now have a new trailhead.

We enjoyed the beautiful sights and sounds of nature.  There were a lot of people out hiking and trail running this morning.  We took a snack break at the point with the bench and Roy filled us in with some great information of the Percy Priest Lake.  There were lots of boats out and many were heading to the party cove.
 
We got to see a rat snake which remained calm until the dog wanted to check it out.  Then the snake said to leave him alone.  It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of good fellowship.

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Sunday, June 8, 2014

TTA Float - TN River Gorge

We got to participate in a river trip with the Murfreesboro and Highland Rim Chapters of the TTA.  The CTC Volunteers also joined in for the fun.  Don Deakins, Jan Agee, Brandy Selman, Denise Shepard, Judy Varner, Bob DeHart, Ava Navin, Renee Grace, Tim Grace, Sara Pollard, Craig and Lora McBride, Joan and Tom Hartvigsen, Cynthia, Cindy Watson, Gary Kimbrell.

15 Kayaks and one canoe headed out from the Suck Creek road boat ramp heading nine miles for the Raccoon Mt. boat ramp.  The weather was great, but the wind became a good challenge as progressed down the river. We did a lunch break at Pot's Point where we got to meet a Marion County Sheriff who was notifying us that this was private property.  He was there about a complaint on a car parked in the road.

After we got all the boats out of the river, Lora and I loaded up the canoe and spent the night on the river side.  We camped across and down the lake from the Raccoon Mt. boat ramp.  We had a quiet night seeing lots of different birds, a deer, and a River Otter.  That night we got to listen to some very very loud bull frogs and an owl in the distance.

The next morning we got up and enjoyed breakfast until we heard thunder.  We packed up camp and made it in the canoe before the bottom dropped out.  We held out under a tree until it lightened up and then made a mad paddle for the ramp.

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Saturday, June 7, 2014

TTA Roaring Creek


National Trails Day, lets go hiking!

I joined the Soddy Daisy group today led by Bob McGavock and his swing sickle. I met them at the Roaring Creek trailhead. We got an early start trying to beat the heat. 7 hikers and Violet the Great Dane. 

The humidity was waiting for us on the climb to the ridge top. The view from the bluff was beautiful as always. We found a few wildflowers and a few ticks along the way. Bob stayed behind at the meadow to do some trail clearing with his swing sickle. The trail was looking good; the Breakaway kids did a great job this year. Across the creek the trail had been cleared to get to the section that had built on that side. It continues for about a mile where you find the End Of Trail sign. You can see the flagging continues into the woods. Ready for more trail builders to come out and play. We headed back to the creek for lunch. George had some jelly biscuits that were really good. I think Violet thought so too. 

As we headed back toward the meadow, Bob was hiking to meet us. We walked back enjoying the overlook and the view into Cranmore Cove, and toward the distant mountains. You could see Watts Bar's towers, and the ones at Sequoia. We didn't see the goat, I haven't seen it yet. Maybe next trip. We did see two families hiking today as we hiked out. We wished them a Happy National Trails Day.
 When we got back to the parking lot, my thermometer read 87 degrees. We should have jumped in the creek!

Good hike with great people.

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Friday, June 6, 2014

Cumberland Trail North Chick Maintenance


Lora and I joined the State Parks working on the North Chicamauga Segment of the Cumberland Trail.
They were working on the beginning of the trail and clearing a way for trucks to get down to the creek for personnel rescue. Mainly we were removing large boulders.  Lots of good hard work with some great people.

After working we hiked down to the "Blue Hole" for some swimming.

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